Unprecedented access inside a top flight football team
The Four-Year Plan
9.15pm Saturday at BUEI
For anyone wondering how not to run a football club, look no further than ‘QPR: The Four-Year Pan’ — a fearless fly-on-the wall documentary following the club’s fortunes.
The final scenes of the film capture Rangers’ players celebrating after winning the Championship title, an incredible achievement considering the balmy chain of events which the film charts.
Under former co-owner, Flavio Briatore — the flamboyant Italian businessman — and his right-hand man, Gianni Paladini, QPR work their way through nine managers during a truly tempestuous period at the west London club.
At times it’s easy to forget you’re watching the inner workings of a respected English club and not that of a pub football team, such are the farcical scenes that make ‘The Four-Year Plan’ compelling viewing
Briatore and Paladini spend much of their time picking fights with managers, who they routinely refer to as “idiots”, and incredulously insist on having input on both team selections and substitutions.
For most of the film, at least until the appointment of wily veteran Neil Warnock — who steers a seemingly sinking ship back on its promotion course — the players seem bemused and baffled by the antics of the club’s hierarchy.
The madcap behaviour of Briatore and Paladini only serve to paint Amit Bhatia, QPR’s vice-chairman, in a far more favourable light as the voice of reason among the boardroom chaos.
In fairness to Briatore and Paladini, their desire for Rangers to succeed cannot be doubted. Briatore’s match day opinions resemble that of an average fan on the terraces, with pearls of wisdom such as “ ... that goalkeeper is s**t”.
Paladini, too, shows his desperation for QPR to realise their Premier League ambitions by spending most games violently kicking the seat in front of him in pure frustration at the team’s shot-shy strikers.
Football documentaries are nothing new but it’s unlikely there will be one this transparent again, given the unprecedented level of access to the boardroom battles and the changing room bust-ups.
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Published Apr 18, 2012 at 8:13 am (Updated Apr 18, 2012 at 8:13 am)